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The first time I saw this, I was a child. My parents and grandparents took my sister and I to the drive-in to see it. The next time I saw it, I was in college and living at my Grandmother's house. I liked it, but the strange lighting for the musical numbers is quite off-putting. Over the years, I've caught it again a couple of times, and saw a superb community theater production as well as an awful college production. The TV concert version with Reba McIntyre was marvelous, and I rather liked the one with Glenn Close, because nothing in the script says that Nellie is a young girl. A 50 year old Nellie is just fine with me. The Lincoln Center production, broadcast a few years ago with that glorious 60 piece orchestra was the best.

This film preserves some of the Broadway performances, especially those of Ray Walston and Juanita Hall. Joshua Logan transplanted the musical to the screen really well, although the choreography could have been better. I'm not a big fan of Mitzi Gaynor, either, but she was the right one for the role at the time. (Mary Martin was far too old for Nellie by this time.) Sadly, Myron McCormick, whom everyone loved in the Broadway cast, had passed on, so the role of Stewpot went to the rather hunky, Ken Clark. A lot of the singing in this was dubbed, but it's still an enjoyable movie. It's not as beautiful as The Sound of Music, but still, it's entertaining.

*Trivia note* - (For anyone who's interested) - This is the 1958 Musical/Romance where the vivacious Mitzi Gaynor suggestively sings "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair". As Mitzi soon finds out after singing this little ditty - It's one thing to wash that man out of your hair, girl, but it's another thing to keep him out.

Even though South Pacific was a tad too l-o-n-g at 160 minutes and a little dry and slow-paced at times - I still enjoyed this Technicolour, Rodgers & Hammerstein musical extravaganza all the same. There were some really fine musical numbers here and the cast were all very nice looking.

South Pacific's story revolves around a young American nurse from Little Rock who meets a handsome and mysterious French plantation owner on an exotic island during World War 2. Seeking a breather from the battles going on around them, these two find refuge in each others' arms as their romance quickly blossoms in this lush tropical paradise..... (*Watch "Wash That Man" video-clip*)

I HAD NEVER SEEN THIS MOVIE BEFORE. DISSAPOINTED. NOT VERY MANY GREAT LYRICS. COLOR FOR THE OLDER MOVIE POOR. BEST PART WAS NAVAL WARFARE SCENES.
ALWAYS LIKED RAY WALSTON.
I SEEN A RECENT LOCAL STAGE PLAY IN KANSAS CITY OF SOUTH PACIFIC WITH NO PROPS WHICH WAS BETTER THAN THE MOVIE. OUR LOCAL "BLOODY MARY'' SO MUCH BETTER THAN THE MOVIE ACTRESS.

This is a 1958 American romantic musical film based on James A. Michener's Tales of the South Pacific.
His book is a collection of sequentially related short stories about World War II, based on observations and anecdotes he collected while stationed as a lieutenant commander in the US Navy on the island of Espiritu Santo in the New Hebrides Islands.
This island is now known as Vanuatu.
The DVD contains a 14-minute documentary about the making of this film as well as a 22-minute excerpt of "60 MINUTES: The Tales of South Pacific," in which James Michener and his Japanese-American wife visit the places where his stories took place.
It is really fascinating and entertaining.